


The Tsuchikage's Student

by SeverNSkull



Category: Naruto
Genre: Basically OC Iwa Naruto, Comical Fighting Style no Jutsu, Fourth Tsuchikage, Grown-up Kurotsuchi, Happy Ending, Kurotsuchi future Tsuchikage, Post-Fourth Shinobi War, cheesy little drabbly thing, i'm not really sure what to tag this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-25
Updated: 2016-09-25
Packaged: 2018-08-17 05:24:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8132120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeverNSkull/pseuds/SeverNSkull
Summary: Kurotsuchi gets away with a lot, being the current Tsuchikage's granddaughter, but today is not that day. She ends up by herself and comes across something that brings nostalgia and hope, even with a twinge of regret.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote this a while back, and it seemed cute at the time but really it's godawful. Anyways, I hope if you're reading it that you enjoy it, because I don't think I could muster the strength the continue this.

Kurotsuchi was quite pleased with herself. Her teasing that her grandfather should step down from the position of Tsuchikage had thoroughly annoyed him enough to where he had finally broken down and demanded that she do something else. Unfortunately, grandfather looked as though he had begun to consider it. If that happened, Kuro herself was at the top of the short list of candidates. Having the same ideals as her grandfather and the strength to back up her added cleverness and trickery, it was bound to happen. It was only a matter of when.

So here she was, taking a walk down the streets, feigning how carefree she was to enjoy the cooling evening air and the proceeding sunset cast on the sky over the stone structures. It was getting closer to winter so the days were growing shorter and shorter and soon it’d snow. She was definitely more partial to the summer’s warmth than the biting cold of winter and it was the perfect time of day to get that much more enjoyment out of the mild weather.

Her arms were held behind her head and she grinned, forgetting about her worries for a few minutes when she picked up the sounds of a scuffle. She frowned, inconvenienced by the noises and rolled her eyes. She knew it wasn’t anything serious, otherwise the ANBU would probably begin to scatter and take action so she assumed it was either civilians or children. Kuro became curious, as was in her nature and followed the sounds.

“Oi! Give it back! It’s not yours! It’s Chou’s,” a voice cried out.

Children then. Maybe even _civilian_ children. Kurotsuchi didn’t often like dealing with children but her curiosity was still getting the better of her.

“Don’t be so rude, _Bakari_. You should respect shinobi,” another child chided before Kuro heard more punches being exchanged. Kurotsuchi didn’t like that talk at all. She sneaked around the corner and saw a handful of children standing around, watching two scuffle, or rather a young boy going after a taller one, with an Iwa hitai-ae on his forehead. The smaller boy pushed himself back up and made a go for the genin in front of him, scratching and hitting at him with all his might, but the elder boy, instead of pushing the redhead away, smacked him across the face with the back of his arm.

The younger boy cried out and held a hand to his bruising cheekbone. “I won’t let you take that! It’s Chou’s! Her mother gave it to her and a bully like you doesn’t deserve it,” he shouted from the ground, getting back up.

The older boy scoffed and the two other genin behind him, observing everything chuckled and mocked the younger boy to each other. “Why not? You’re already poor and don’t have anything, _no good_. Why would one more thing make a difference to either of you?” The leader of the genins mocked the small crusader and began looking over the doll. He scoffed at it, “This doll’s lame anyways. I’m almost doing you a favor.”

“I want it back, Daruki! I won’t let you take it,” the boy grunted and began to pull himself up off the ground, covered in dust and dirt.

The little girl – Chou, probably – behind him, roughly the same age, came to his side and put a hand on him, “Hikari, it’s okay. I-I don’t need it. I don’t want them to hurt you.” She had plastered on a large, fake smile, with tears in her eyes from before Kuro had arrived.

Hikari, the boy, raised a brow at her and his expression became that of determination. He gently brushed her hand away and got up on his feet, meeting her eyes he grinned with a half-smile and said, “No. I can’t give up. It’s yours Chou and someone’s gotta teach these guys that just because they’re stronger they can’t just do what they want and take stuff.” He turned back to the genin and huffed, taking a stance and holding his fists up.

“You’re still not giving up, _Bakari_? You’re dumber than I thought, but if it’s a fight you want, I’ll give it to you,” the genin declared, taking a fighting stance as well, after shoving the doll into one of his subordinate’s arms. “You’re going to regret this.”

Hikari made the first move and Kurotsuchi’s eyes were trained on the ensuing fight. He punched out at the older boy who blocked with his arm, swinging it out to catch the smaller boy. Hikari skipped away, just barely getting out of the way on time as the arm swung past with momentum. Daruki moved with the punch and swung his opposite leg out, trying to hit Hikari with a blow from his foot, but the most insane thing happened; Hikari leapt forward and latched out. The group of children began to murmur back and forth and Daruki began to yell at the redheaded ninja.

“You idiot! Get off! Get off! GET OFF!” His shouting fell on deaf ears and Hikari struggled to stay on as Daruki began to shake and hit and kick at the tormented boy. The redheaded boy didn’t like that much at all and growled before sinking his teeth into the older boy’s leg as hard as he could manage. The resulting scream was priceless and unheard of and several of the childrens’ peers began to laugh at Hikari’s comical fighting style.

Kurotsuchi herself began chuckling and revealed herself from her hiding place, making her way into the group of children, putting everything at a standstill. “What are you doing, ne? Looks a little violent over here,” she chimed. The children were all speechless and Hikari let go of Daruki’s leg, plopping on the ground. Daruki ripped away and fell backwards himself, landing on his bottom and holding his sore leg, his eyes tearing up.

The kunoichi confidently walked over to the group of genins and took the doll from Daruki’s subordinate. Although she held her optimistic smile in place, the other children withered under her gaze. She broke away and headed over to the younger children, the azure-haired girl crouched on the ground beside her stubborn friend, and knelt before them, handing the girl the doll. “I believe this belongs to you,” Kurotsuchi said with a grin.

Chou’s eyes widened and she gazed up at her with a star-struck face before hastily taking back the doll and holding it to her chest, giving it the love it had been neglected while in the clutches of the cruel genin. Hikari was fixed with a look of bewilderment and was also fixed on Kurotsuchi’s face. “Ah-Ah, th-thank you, shinobi-san!”

“Ne. You looked like you were giving him a run for his money,” she chuckled making the two children grin at her. Hikari nodded in acceptance and laughed, “Yeah! Nobody messes with my Chou-chan! Not even the Tsuchikage!” His enthusiasm after just having his ass mostly handed to him really perked Kuro up and she laughed even more cheerily.

“I guess not, ne. I’m Kurotsuchi,” she stated matter-of-factly. “So I guess you want to be ninja one day, hm?” She stood and watched as Chou followed suit.

“Yeah! Of course,” Hikari shouted, having shot back up to his feet.

Chou nodded and muttered, “Yes, Kurotsuchi-san” behind her doll.

“Well, you aren’t far behind then,” Kurotsuchi added, her eyes crinkling with a whole-hearted smile. “Ne, I may even be your sensei one day, maybe to a future Tsuchikage.” Hikari looked even more excited about that prospect while Chou just sort of frowned and looked away. Kurotsuchi raised an eyebrow but changed the subject. She turned back to assess if the delinquents were still in place even though they had long since scrammed and then back to her new little friends. “Would you like me to walk you home?”

Chou continued to look away and Hikari’s grin slipped away into guilt, probably because of the fight. “Er, Kuro-san, we don’t really have a home.” He rubbed the back of his messy red head and chuckled nervously.

Kuro frowned and recalled that the last Great War hadn’t exactly been causality-free and there were plenty of parent-less children either in the orphanages or on the streets. Her heart ached for the brave little boy and the stoic young girl. “Where do you live, Hikari-chan?”

The young boy froze up and his cheeks became red, bring a smile back to Kurotsuchi’s lips. “Um-Um… Uhh…”

“The old lady down the street from here,” Chou began, she took us in. “Oba-san looks after us and feeds us.”

Hikari nodded in confirmation, “Yeah. She makes sure we don’t get into much trouble.” The boy laughs nervously and rubs the back of his head again.

Kurotsuchi let out a soft sigh. These two were too much and she was already falling for them. They’d make pretty good shinobi, just the kind they needed on their forces. With Hikari’s stubbornness and determination and Chou knowing when to give in and not leaving her friend’s side they were a pretty good team and Kurotsuchi had high hopes. She’d definitely talk to her grandfather about the pair and pull some strings, maybe then they wouldn’t have to live on the streets anymore.

“Well, in that case, would it be alright if I bought you, let’s say… ramen,” she asked the duo. The pair dropped their discomfort and instantly became cheerful and perky once more. Anything for the promise of friendship and warm food.

“Lead the way, Kuro-san,” Hikari cried, while Chou immediately ran up and slipped her hand into Kurotsuchi’s as they headed through the village on their way to the ramen shop. Kuro smiled and chuckled warmly at the fuzziness forming in her chest and was reminded of something not too long ago when she first met her own nii-san, stifling away the temporary sadness that brought with it. It wouldn’t do to think about that right now. Right now, Kurotsuchi was going to get ramen with the two children she had utterly fallen for and she wasn’t going to be bothered by her future prospect of becoming Tsuchikage and surpassing her father or her long-lost nii-san.

Rather than be weighed down with her fears and sadness of loss, she was going to watch as Hikari wolfed down bowl after bowl of noodles and scalding broth while Chou reprimanded him and asked him to be careful, resigning to just observe him as they each told Kurotsuchi fascinating stories of their adventures and fantasies. Maybe Kurotsuchi had a soft spot for children, just this once. And maybe it wasn’t all that bad because right now she didn’t mind it one little bit.


End file.
